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Solar Powered (Photo credit: treehouse1977)

Last year was the end of the world as we know it. The end of the world predominately powered by fossil fuels. And to mark the shift in human experience, as led by America since it generalized electricity over a century ago, the month of January 2013 was the first one ever where no fossil fuels were added to our grid. That’s right:

In January 2013, no new fossil fuels nor nuclear power plants were added to the electric grid of the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration. There were close to 1200 MW of power additions to the grid – no small number – or about the equivalent of a big coal power station added that month. It was all renewable.

That is, all of the new power capacity added to the grid in January 2013 was either wind, solar or biomass power. Sorry to be repetitive but I hope you get the significance of this – it’s a pretty big moment. I do not believe there has been another month in US history when electric generating capacity was added and all of it was clean energy.

And I feel fine.

That’s the thing. We worry, when interests vested in the fossil-fueled status quo tell us electricity is going to be unstable. Or that this clean energy stuff won’t work well enough. Or whatever - but we can actually do this. And we are doing it when it comes to energy all around the world. I think you already know that solar electrical generation grew 138.9% in 2012 in the USA, while oil, coal and nuclear power all declined.

And yet you also know that many other countries are way ahead of us. These days Germany is getting so much wind and solar power that it often sells for negative prices. The world is going solar at an astounding rate. In Australia 10% of houses have solar power systems now, which constitutes about 2% of power capacity, and the rate of doubling is in less than a year. Do the math.

In 6 years it could all be solar downunder. America is catching up - with solar expected to be the second biggest addition to the grid in 2013. Last year the industry put 3,313 megawatts of solar PV projects on-line around the U.S. But China is doing more solar than us. And Japan is going to do more solar than China in 2013: they’re projected to install more than 5 GW of new solar photovoltaic capacity in 2013, marking an increase of 120% compared to the previous year. You can be sure they're not going to do 5GW of nuclear power!

So mark my words and the Mayans' – 2012 was the end of an era. I know we’re still sometimes stuck in the past – like we’re rehashing the verse, “Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline”. But the numbers tell a different story. We’re accepting solar solutions en masse, worldwide. Shine on!